Can Pearce Hanley be better than Jim Stynes?

Run-and-carry players are more valuable than ever in modern AFL’s tight defensive structures. Few footballers are more dangerous when offered a skerrick of space than the Brisbane Lions’ Irish jet Pearce Hanley.

The import vaporised Gold Coast on the weekend, racking up an extraordinary 45 disposals, nine clearances, 11 inside 50s, two goals and three goal assists.

But the statistic which best underscored both the dominance of his performance and his value as a player was the 1062 metres he gained – almost 400m more than the next-best return for the round.

Early in his AFL career, the ever-confident Hanley had a problem with being chased down by tacklers while galloping with the ball. This weakness was partly due to his background playing Gaelic football, where players in possession cannot be tackled in this same manner, only pressured by close-checking opponents.

It is routine for Gaelic footballers to win the ball and then sprint 30m-to-40m upfield despite having a foe, or several, right by their side trying to dispossess them.

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But Hanley has turned this hangover from his Gaelic days into a significant weapon. Rather than overriding his instinct to dash forward with the ball, he merely tempered it while he became more familiar with the rhythms of AFL football.

Now that he has developed an innate sense for when he is, or is not, under threat from a tackler, Hanley exploits his attacking flair and slices the opposition wide open.

His searing pace and wonderful agility allow him to burst through gaps or away from packs and then give him the time to steady and pinpoint a team mate.

Despite only taking up AFL at the age of 19 after being recruited from Ireland by the Lions, Hanley owns one of the most precise right foots in the competition.

He is no slouch off his left peg either as he displayed on the weekend, kicking a goal off his non-favoured boot and lining up several other effective passes.

Hanley announced himself as a borderline A-grade player last season, becoming one of the most potent running half-backs in the AFL and finishing second in Brisbane’s best-and-fairest award.

He has surged to another level in 2014 thanks to increased opportunities to roam through the midfield. Injuries to regular on-ballers Daniel Rich and Jack Redden gave him this chance and it has not been wasted.

The Irishman has averaged 25 touches, four inside 50s, four tackles, three clearances and three rebound 50s. He has been so influential in Brisbane’s recent resurgence that he is a strong contender to win his first All-Australian selection after surely coming close last season.

That was something fellow Irishman Tadgh Kennelly never managed to achieve during his 197 games with Sydney. The former Swan has had clearly the second greatest AFL career of any Irish player after Melbourne’s legendary Brownlow Medallist Jim Stynes.

While Kennelly was an intrinsic component of the Swans side which won the 2005 premiership, was he ever as effective as Hanley is now? I don’t think so.

Hanley and Kennelly are quite similar players – canny half backs with an offensive mindset. But the former’s ability to shift into the midfield and rip apart games elevates him above Kennelly.

Of course, the 25-year-old is only 91 games into his AFL career. Whether he can match Kennelly’s career we will have to wait and see.

His development, however, is such that he appears capable of potentially reaching a Stynes-like level, where he becomes one of the best dozen players in the competition.

Can he match Stynes and win a Brownlow? It seems unlikely, although he is exactly the type of player who the umpires notice most. Can he match Stynes and play 264 games? Again, it is unlikely.

When asked on The Sunday Footy Show this week what he thought of suggestions he could become the best Irishman to play Australian football, Hanley gave a humble response.

“It’s nice to have that said about you but I don’t know about that, there’s been a few good ones before me so to have my name in the same sentence as those fellas I’m happy to have it,” he said.

Brisbane made a prudent move late last year in signing Hanley to a five-year deal. Given the enormous value of players of his ilk, were he to have gone on the open market he may well have received a massive offer from a rival club.

Along with the likes of Rich, Redden, Matt Leuenberger and Tom Rockliff, Hanley is the future of the Lions.

He may never eclipse Stynes as the greatest Irishman to play Australian football. But, on pure impact, he is already second.